


The Way to a Man's Heart

by PyrophobicDragon



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-16 04:58:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13629081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PyrophobicDragon/pseuds/PyrophobicDragon
Summary: ...is not through his stomach.Fjord buys Caleb two books.(now with a second chapter!)





	1. Chapter 1

The instant they step foot into the store, Fjord gets bored.

Their party had split up to go shopping. He, Beau, and Jester were in the general store, buying more supplies for the next leg of their journey. Molly, Caleb, and Nott were off searching the consignment stores for any interesting items that might be there.

He wanders away from Beau and Jester, heading further into the shop. Amongst the usual mess of food, booze, healing supplies, clothing, spare parts, weak weapons, and jars filled with dubious items, he finds a small, two-shelf bookcase tucked away in the back corner. It was crammed full of books.

He tilts his head briefly to listen. Jester and Beau were seriously debating the merits of salt pork versus salt beef. If he recalls correctly, the first item on their shopping list, scratched in by Nott, was “meat.” He supposes he has more than enough time to peruse the shelves. As he kneels down, tilting his head to the side to examine the spines, he takes a moment to wonder what he’s doing. While he does like to read, he’s never gone actively shopping for a book.

Most of the books on the shelves were thin, simple manuals--books on identifying herbs, on brewing ales, on combating pests in the field. He ignores all the thinner ones and pulls out the three thickest tomes in the shelves. One purported to be the “factual account of one man’s journey through savage territory.” He flips through, and it’s filled with droning descriptions of scenery and the author’s musings on the nature of Man. He grimaces and puts it back on the shelf.

The next book is a history and examination of some sort of druid clan called the Ashari. It had some descriptions of their ritual and magics. He sets it aside for a price check.

The third book is heavy and gilt-edged. He flips it open and feels a twinge of disappointment--it’s written in a language unknown to him. Upon further inspection, however, the book contains sketches that look like the ritual spells Caleb used sometimes, so he decides to take a gamble and snatch it up.

A quick glance-through of the shelves reveal nothing else interesting, so he takes the two books and heads to the counter, passing Jester, fiddling with some items, and Beau, staring intently at a shelf of hardtack. They both look up at him as he passes, watching with puzzled stares as he drops the books on the counter. “Pardon me, how much are these?”

The shopkeeper looks down at the books. “Ten and one,” she says, gesturing to the golden one and then the Ashari one. Despite the lightness of his purse and the lack of yellow glint, Fjord doesn’t bat an eyelash as he pulls out eleven gold and drops them into the shopkeeper’s palm.

All of the sudden, Jester appears by his side. “Hey, Fjord, what are you doing with those?”

Beau appears on his other side, leaning in to read the book titles. “You’re not much of a reader, usually--and since when could you read...whatever that language is?”

Looking down at the books, Fjord blinks. What  _ was _ he doing with these? He picks them up slowly, looking down at them in his hands. Then he is hit with a sudden, complete understanding of why he bought them. “Well...they’re gifts,” he tells the girls, who exchange looks.

Before they could badger him more on the books, he walks out the door, calling over his shoulder, “I’m heading back to the inn. Have fun shopping!” He at least tries to make it seem like he’s not fleeing.

Back at the inn, he burns the time waiting for his friends by speaking to the bored-looking innkeeper. This small waypoint town had very little news of interest, so he pretends to listen intently to the innkeeper’s gossip about mister so-and-so’s cows while jumping every time the door opens.

He peels away from the innkeeper when his friends finally walk in. Apparently the five of them had met up on the way over. He grins and gives a wave, standing up from the barstool he was sitting at and walking back to the big table they had claimed as their own.

Watching Caleb and Beau showing each other their purchases and discussing which things should go where and who should carry what, he’s reminded of the two books sitting under his chair. He bends down, scoops them up and walks over to Caleb, hiding them behind his back. “Hey, I found some things in the general store.”

Caleb turns around with a chuckle. “You, shopping? You’ll forgive me if I doubt that, I hope.”

Fjord laughs as well, pointing at him with one hand. “I resent that. But, no, seriously, I was at the general store and I found some things that I thought you might like…” He pulls out the books and presents them, suddenly feeling a twinge of anxiety.

Caleb...stares at the books. And stares. And stares some more. Fjord’s starting to feel more than a little bit awkward. He coughs and stutters, “I mean, I wasn’t really sure what you would like, so I just grabbed the ones that caught my attention, and I don’t even know what the golden one’s about, since it’s in a different language, but I know you’re like, a savant, and…”

“You bought me books.”

His soft voice, filled with something precariously close to wonder, stops Fjord’s babbling immediately. “Well...yeah.”

Suddenly, the books are snatched out of his hands, and Caleb is looking as though Fjord had brought him the moon on a silver platter, looking back and forth between the books, turning them this way, flipping them open and shut as he glances them over. “You bought me a  _ book on the Ashari _ and a  _ ritual spell book. _ This one should be at least twenty gold total! And you bought me  _ two! _ ”

“D-do you like them?” Fjord asks, still uncertain, rubbing the back of his neck. It’s starting to heat up a little.

“Do I like them?  _ Do I like them? _ ” Caleb is nearly shouting with glee--this is the most animated he’s ever seen the usually quiet wizard. “Fjord--” Caleb shakes his head, looking exasperated. 

Then he abruptly stands up on his tiptoes and plants a firm kiss onto Fjord’s cheek.

While Fjord is still reeling from the unexpected contact, Caleb leans back to look him in the eye. “Fjord, thank you, thank you, thank you,” he effuses, then goes dancing--literally dancing--off. He manages to reach the chair closest to the corner before plopping down, opening up the Ashari book, and disappearing behind it.

Fjord can’t do anything but stare. The heat that started in his neck had flared up to engulf the rest of his face. He’s sure he’s blushing that unattractive shade of dark green he turns. Without thinking, his hand drifts up and gently touches the cheek Caleb kissed. The ghostly sensation of his lips linger in the edge of his mind as he tries to process what just happened.

A slow clap starts up behind him. Molly and Beau were looking at him, strangely identical shit-eating grins on their faces, while Jester and Nott were staring at him with wide eyes--one with glee, one with shock. Jester cups her hand around her mouth and stage-whispers, “He kissed you!” pointing at Caleb with her other hand.

Fjord whispers back the first thing that popped into his head. “Did--did he just actually...or was I hallucinating….?”

Beau gives him a slow nod. “It happened. Four witnesses, right here.”

Molly snorts. “Maybe I should go shopping as well if that’s all it takes to get a smooch from him.”

A white-hot jolt of jealousy pierces his gut. He opens his mouth even though he’s utterly uncertain what he wants to say, but Nott pipes up. “I’ve given him books plenty of times, and he doesn’t kiss me. Well, sometimes he does. Well, loads of times.”

All right. He can already tell this conversation was going to get out of hand. He shakes his head, filing away the memory to take out and examine later, and holds up a hand to fend off any further discussion. “I’m...gonna go get drinks. What do y’all want?”

As he walks away with their drink orders in mind, he realizes that he made a bad decision. The instant he turns his back furious whispering starts up. They were  _ definitely _ gossiping behind him.

But as he waits for the barkeep to serve the drinks, he takes the moment of relative privacy to drift his hand back up to his face and smile. Maybe he  _ should _ buy Caleb some more books.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Sci for helping me sort my writing out~

That night, lying on his back in the too-small cot, Fjord thinks about the reception of his gift. 

First things first, he berates himself for sounding like such an idiot during the gifting. He should have been more patient, he shouldn’t have babbled the way he did. He was so goddamn awkward.

Self-flagellation done, the next place where his mind went was the  _ smile. _ That beautiful smile, lighting up the gaunt face, that was usually reserved for a tricky piece of magic performed by Nott or helping Fjord convince a townsfolk to give them a discount or tell them a piece of information. Fjord’s seen that smile many times, has even seen it directed at him in the middle of battle out of the corner of his eye. But today he bore the full brunt of that goddamn smile. He can’t think of the last time someone looked at him so genuinely like that.

From there, his mind jumps to the way Caleb had been so adorably excited, bouncing about like a child, waltzing away with his books, one in each hand. His mind replays that scene over and over--Caleb pouring out his gratitude,  _ pressing a kiss to his cheek _ , and dancing away to bury his nose in his books. After Fjord had returned with drinks, Caleb was still focused solely on his new friends, not speaking a single word all evening. Even now, in the corner of the room, there was the faint glow of one of Caleb’s globules of light muffled by his handkerchief as he sat up to read the books Fjord gave him. 

If Fjord cranes his neck and squints just enough, he can dimly make out the small smile that still graced Caleb’s lips.

What was wonderful to him--besides the whole damn situation of course--was the fact that he was able to witness this slightly hilarious, more-than-mildly heartwarming  _ whole evening of pure happiness _ for the low price of eleven gold.

It seemed like a sound investment to him. He’d have to keep it up--it would be good for Caleb to be happy once in a while.

With that resolution in mind, Fjord closes his eyes. Before he truly falls into slumber, he whispers into the silent room, “Go to sleep, Caleb.”

When they hit the road again the next morning (Caleb was yawning a little, but he was clutching his two books to his chest--evidently, he didn’t take Fjord’s advice last night), Fjord convinces the party to press on a little bit harder than they would normally. He really fucking hopes that they won’t run into trouble as a result of his persuasions--especially since his only reason for wanting to reach the next town sooner was that it was supposedly a bit bigger than the one they were leaving and was much more likely to have interesting books to buy.

Luckily for his conscience, they didn’t run into any trouble during their travels, and they reach the next town over in two days, arriving in the mid-afternoon.

As soon as he and Caleb found an inn and negotiated a fair price for their rooms, he immediately drops his stuff and heads out to find a shop or two. He’s eager to see Caleb’s enthusiasm again.

As he walks past the others, who are already claiming a table, Molly shoots him a smirk and Beau claps him on the back. “I take it you won’t be helping us get supplies?” she asks with a grin.

Fjord tries not to rise to her bait. He replies coolly, “Yep, naw--gonna do a bit of personal shopping.”

“Mmm. Personal.” Molly mumbles under his breath. Fjord nods at him, fighting hard to keep a straight face.

“Mmm-hmm. Personal,” he echos, then scampers out the door before he had to endure more teasing or, gods forbid, Jester took notice. As he actively walks towards the market district, he takes a moment to briefly wonder when was the last time he actually went shopping. Maybe when he bought his armor? 

He wanders down the street until he finds the local bookstore. Much to his disappointment, it’s more of a small stand than an actual, large store he was hoping for, and the selection was no better than it was at the general store in the last town--the increased shelf space was filled with more manuals and pulpy novels and not one, not two, but  _ five _ copies of that same “adventure” book he saw and rejected at the last store. 

“Fuck you, Taryon Darrington--if that’s your real name...” Fjord mumbles under his breath. The wisp of a teen manning the booth pulls his nose out of the book he’s reading and looks up in alarm.

“E-excuse me, sir?” he asks, quailing a little.

“Not directed at you,” Fjord grunts. He gives the boy a pitying once-over and almost chuckles out loud. If the boy had red hair instead of that mousy brown, he would look exactly the way he imagines Caleb did as a teen. The boy still looked mildly terrified, so Fjord gives him a comforting smile before leaning on the counter. “Do you have anything more interesting than what’s displayed here? Maybe something about magic?”

The teen closes his book, stands up from his stool, and smooths down his rumpled shirt. “Ah, er, what’s on display is what we have, usually.”

Fjord grimaces. There’s no way he’s going to give Caleb a book with a picture of a shirtless man and a heavy-bosom-ed woman on the cover. He gives the stand a once-over again and sighs. “All right, then, thank you. Any other place that might sell books in this town?”

“No, we’re the only ones--” The boy starts, then stutters for a split second. “B-before you go, though...”

Fjord raises a brow and waits patiently for him to continue. He gulps, then continues much more boldly. “Actually, if you’re looking for something magical, I might...”

He ducks down behind the counter then pops up, gingerly holding a book between two fingers. The book is wrinkled from water damage, partially burned, and what remains of the front cover and the pages is stained brown with what is probably blood or possibly watery gravy. Probably the blood, though. The teen is holding it by the one non-stained patch. “A woman came through, sold this to me...she was a bit scary, so I didn’t say no, but no one in town would want it, and it was probably taken off a dead body so it’s kinda scary to me since it might be cursed or haunted or something...”

Fjord holds up one hand to cut off the nervous babbling and holds out the other. “I’ll take it. How much do you want for it?” 

The teen flounders, thinking, as he hands it over. Fjord flips through it--some of the pages are whole, and some of those pages definitely look like spells. He turns his attention back to the teen as he stutters, “Four...silver...?”

Fjord fishes out the four silver and a gold piece, dropping them on the counter. “I’m feeling generous. Keep the change, kiddo, buy yourself some better books,” he tells him. As the kid squeaks his thanks, Fjord gives him a two-fingered salute and turns and goes.

When he arrives back at the inn, Caleb is sitting by himself at their table. He’s carefully repairing a tiny rip in his book holster, while his coat still had a large gaping hole in the arm where he got narrowly missed by a sword. It’s almost funny how Caleb cares so much about not losing those two books of his, to the point where even a small structural deficit in that holster warranted hours of careful mending.

He only looks up when Fjord plops down next to him, wariness in his eye immediately fading when he realizes it’s just Fjord. He gives him a nod. “Where did you go? You disappeared so suddenly. Beau said you went shopping, but I didn’t know if she was kidding or not.”

In lieu of a reply, Fjord sets the book on the table. As predicted, Caleb’s eyes immediately shoots to the new item, eyeing it up the way a hound eyed a bone. He makes no motion towards the book, though, and after a moment he turns back to his mending with visible effort, still occasionally shooting glances at the book with eyes filled with curiosity. Fjord chuckles and pushes it closer to him. “It’s for you.”

Caleb jerks, turning his whole body. “R-really?”

Fjord nods and Caleb gasps softly, dropping the needle he was holding. “You got me another book?” After Fjord nods again, Caleb snatches up the book, flipping the pages gingerly as he inspects it, completely ignoring the stains and the damage. “Oh, you are amazing, incredible, and absolutely wonderful,” he gushes. Fjord’s honestly not entirely sure if Caleb’s addressing the book or him.

Then Caleb looks up at him, eyes bright, that adorable smile on his face. As Fjord automatically begins to smile back, Caleb reaches up and hauls him down, pressing a kiss once again on his cheek. “Thank you, you wonderful man,” he says softly. But his attention is arrested by the book and he begins flipping through the pages once more.

Fjord’s smile is now more of a foolish grin. He sits back in his chair and crosses his arms, feeling a glowing warmth in his chest at Caleb’s happiness and a glowing warmth in his cheeks. He’d have to endure the others’ reactions when they return, but for now, he’ll enjoy the view of Caleb being happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Thank you all for leaving such nice comments! I would like to reply to each one, but I'm so overwhelmed by your positive reactions! :D I'll get around to it...someday....
> 
> Special shoutout to tieflingofcolor for the idea of the author of the first book!

**Author's Note:**

> I may add more chapters to this, but for now it is complete.


End file.
